Return of an Exiled Hero: The Akatsuki Wars
by linkhyrule5
Summary: A sequel to Exiled Legend, which I have adopted. Naruto is leaving to train alone with Jiraiya, but some people have other ideas, and surprisingly enough, not all are malevolent... I do not own Naruto! Rated T just in case.
1. A new student

Note: This starts after chapter 19 of the original story. While I love chapter 20, it just doesn't fit, for many reasons (you'll see one this chapter)

"Are you ready Naruto?" Jiraiya asked while leaning against the gate.

Naruto slowly walked up the road, a nod coming from his head. "Let's go."

"You know we'll be gone for a long time right? Don't you want to say good-bye to anyone?"

Naruto shook his head. "My place isn't within this village right now but when we return, I will make amends."

Jiraiya laughed. "Spoken like a true shinobi." The duo started walking out of the village and into the sunrise, leaving their mark behind but taking with them the experiences and memories that they gained. They are off to a completely new adventure, exploring and learning as they go. This is the next chapter in their life as master and apprentice.

***************

Suddenly, Naruto stopped. "We're being followed, and closely."

"Who is it?" asked Jiraiya. "Can you tell?"

"Not yet..."

"It's Sasuke," said the newcomer. "I came to train with you. Konoha just isn't doing it for me, I need better training if I ever want to beat Itachi. I did get permission from Hokage-sama before I left, so I'm not a missing-nin."

"And what makes you think we would train you?" chuckled Naruto.

"One, as I am the last Uchiha, I am backed by the wealth of my clan. Two, I am a Sharingan user, and you are not going to convince me that you wouldn't like to study it."

"So you can barter. Aw heck, I'll train you anyway for the fun of it. Under one condition."

"Really? What?" This was going better than he had expected, although he didn't like the look on Naruto's face.

"Three things. One: I'm your teacher. Two: You have to call me sensei." Seeing Sasuke's look of horror, he said, "See why I said it was fun? Oh, and you shouldn't have revealed your possession of the Uchicha clan finances. From now on, you pay for ramen."

Stuttering, Sasuke swallowed his pride and spat, "Hai, Naruto-sensei."

Rubbbing his hands together with glee, Naruto laughed. "This is going to be fun. For me that is."

Groaning, Sasuke fell in step with the two ninjas.

*** Five hours later ***

It was dark now, and they had just pitched camp. Sasuke was looking strangely at the miniature tent Naruto and Jiraiya were crowding into. "Uh, guys? How are you going to fit in there?"

Naruto chuckled. "I figured you'd ask. Look inside." And to Sasuke's surprise, Naruto and Jiraiya fit into a tent that looked like it couldn't even fit one. Sighing, he peeked in, to see... nothing. There was a note at the bottom that read, "Boar, monkey, fox, snake."

"Hand seals eh?" Crouching down, he formed the requisite hand seals, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Reappearing, he was surprised to find himself in an area as big as the Uchiha mansion. "H-how did you do this?"

"Simple," responded Naruto. "It's a reverse summoning. The hand seals activate a human puppet we 'borrowed' from Sasori. Don't ask, it'd take a while to explain."

"At least tell me who Sasori is."

"He's a member of Akatsuki who specializes in puppets."

"Akatsuki?! You mean..."

"The group of S-class missing-nin out to gather the bijuu blah blah blah? Yeah."

_I need his power! There's no way I can beat Itachi at this rate!_ "Impressive. Then again, that _is_ why I wanted you to train me."

"Speaking of which. Lets get started. First of all, as an Uchiha, your most effective weapon is your Sharingan. Show it to me."

_Grr... why couldn't someone with a little respect have all the power?!_ "Hai, Naruto-sensei." Focusing, he activated his Sharingan, and his eyes turned blood-red.

"Two tomoe in the right and one in the left. Impressive as a starter, but nowhere near powerful enough."

"And how would you know so much about the Sharingan?"

"First of all, it took me exactly one hour to find your 'hidden' hideout. Under the sixth tatami mat on the right, correct?" Sasuke gasped. "Secondly, I've fought Itachi before. Apparently, I'm the first enemy he had to use Amaterasu on, and he only didn't go farther because I ran out of chakra and fled. I still have Amaterasu fire-sealed into a scroll for emergencies."

Sasuke's eyes widened even more. _He sealed Amaterasu?! Even to get Itachi to use such a dangerous Mangekyou dojutsu on him is an achievement!_

"Uh, technically," started Jiraiya.

"Technically, you sat around and egged us on, ero-sennin." said Naruto. As Jiraiya spluttered, he continued sadly, "Anyway, as you can see, I might know more about the Sharingan than you do. But enough of the chit-chat. It's time to help your Sharingan fully mature. I warn you, this will not be pleasant, and I truly apologize." Forming a record number of seals, he whispered, "_**Sharingan Fuin Genjutsu: Gaishu Teki Taiken no Jutsu!**_"

"What? Nooooo...." Sasuke's voice died off, as he entered a vision of pure horror.

*** In Sasuke's mind; Genjutsu ***

"No... oh no,... Naruto, of all the possible horrors, did you have to pick this one?" moaned Sasuke. In front of him was an all too familiar scene: a busy alley in the Uchiha quarters in the city, and a dark shape advancing down the street. "Hello Ita-aieee!" screamed one Uchiha, as kunai sped to their targets. The alley filled with screams of betrayal and death gargles as within minutes, every last person was dead. By now, Sasuke had collapsed helplessly in the middle of the alley, not even bothering to look at his seven-year-old body. "Why, Naruto, why? Why-huh?" Suddenly, he realized he wasn't seven anymore; he was twelve again. A smirk started to form as he activated his Sharingan. Suddenly, the scene stopped, skipped, and replayed. This time, Sasuke used his Sharingan and tried to counter the kunai in front speeding to their targets. From the name, he didn't expect the genjutsu itself to be countered; but he would not just let his family be killed this time! Quickly, he unsheathed his kunai and threw them to counter – and missed.

"What on – how did I miss?" Trying again, he achieved the same result over and over again. Focusing his Sharingan, he saw that the kunai had strings attached, and were swerving too unpredictably to counter. Despite several iterations of this heartbreaking scene, Sasuke's Sharingan failed him again and again. Desperate, he sobbed, "Aunt! Uncle!" as they died for the sixth time in the past ten minutes, falling pathetically to his knees. Suddenly, in his mind's eye appeared a picture... a memory...

_Flashback; Naruto's memories; Genjutsu_

_A crumpled, bloodied figure lies in front of a tall man, wearing Akatsuki robes. "Surrender," he says, "and I might spare you."_

_The figure, dressed in unmistakable bright orange, whispered, "Never," struggling to get to his feet. As if trying to convince himself, he whispered, "That is my nindo, my ninja way! To never go back on my word... and never give up." Suddenly, Naruto stared up into the bright Sharingan eyes. He vanished nda reappeared behind Itachi's back. Chuckling, Itachi blocked, impaling Naruto on his katana. Even as he fell through, Naruto plunged his kunai into Itachi's back. They both toppled over, dead. _

Sasuke understood. The point of the exercise, in some unfathomable way, was to awaken his Sharingan, not torture him. Naruto, sensing his despair, was trying to inspire confidence in him with one of his memories. "That is your nindo..." he whispered. "A worthy nindo indeed!" Snapping his head up in time for the seventh iteration, the world seemed to come into focus in a way it never had before, as details he would otherwise never have noticed appeared. He blocked every kunai before it hit its target, and within seconds, Itachi was dead and the Uchiha clan survived.

*** Genjutsu End ***

Sasuke stared at Naruto, and almost growled. Backing up, Naruto said, "Hey! Hey! It was worth it! Look!" holding up a mirror. Sure enough, a third tomoe had grown in both eyes. Calming down, Sauske asked,

"How did you live through that?"

Sighing, Naruto replied, "As soon as I looked in his eyes it turned into a genjutsu duel. As soon as I 'died' I left the gen, but while it was ongoing I took advantage of the opportunity to replace myself with a clone. Still, it was a bit of a turning point for me; it was the first time I had been subdued so thoroughly since I started training with Jiraiya. As I mentioned earlier, I still ended up giving Itachi a run for his money. Literally; he really ought to guard his wallet better." Flashing a grin at Sasuke, Naruto continued, "Enough of that. Do you mind... no. Can you stand it if I used that as a training area on a regular basis?" Sighing at Sasuke's evident shock, he explained, "The high emotional stress of that time makes it an ideal moment for rapid improvement, though it is, as you may have noticed, a double-edged sword. I trained at the moment when the ANBU set to guard me when I was young decided to try to kill me instead."

"I'm going to seriously regret this later... but I guess so."

"Good. Now, lets see your genjutsu. Take out those ridiculously incompetent missing-nin trying to collect the bounty on me, using only genjutsu."

* * *

**Well how's that for a start? Please, R criticism is welcomed, just please no flaming. **

**Every chapter, I'll list the translations of the Jutsus at the bottom:**

_**Sharingan Fuin Genjutsu: Gaishu Teki Taiken no Jutsu: **_**Sharingan Sealing Illusory Technique: Traumatic Experience Jutsu.  
**


	2. Training and Timeskip

Yay, reviews! Okay, just a couple, but still...

I'm going to set up a poll on my profile. It's about Naruto's power level after three years of Tajuu Kage Bushin (Mass shadow clone) training. In case it doesn't work, here it is: At the level of Kakashi, Stronger than Kakashi (but weaker than Jiraiya), Stronger than Jiraiya (but weaker than Pain), At the level of Pain. This is all assuming a fight with no prior information about their respective strengths and weaknesses (so Naruto would be on guard against genjutsu w/ Jiraiya and would not know about Hermit mode, etc.)

I'm also going to start translating jutsus as they appear. I'll only translate them once though, just cause I'm lazy :P. There are some that are self-explanatory/explained in canon and sound cooler untranslated, so I'm not going to translate Sharingan, Rasengan, etc.

The 5 elements

Katon: Fire Style

Raiton: Thunder Style

Doton: Earth Style

Fuuton: Wind Style

Suiton: Water Style

The ***Censored*** Combo Elements

Mokuton: Wood Style

Hyouton: Ice Style

*** Censored***: ***Spoiler*** Style

*** Censored***: ***Spoiler*** Style

Uncounted as yet other styles

Anyway, story time!

"Normal speech"

_Normal Thought_

"**Abnormal speech (bijuu to host, Yamanaka to victim)"**

_**Abmormal thought (bijuu, Yamanaka while in victim)**_

**************

Sasuke was impressed, though he'd never admit it. The chakra of the nuke-nin outside was barely perceivable, and he could only feel over his own chaotic chakra fluctuations if he concentrated. To be able to perceive them while talking – for that matter, without even trying – implied precise chakra control and senses that were so accustomed to remaining alert that they could do so subconciously. If he had had any doubts about his choice of sensei, they were squashed now. _Though,_ he thought, _I really ought to find a way around that particular condition._

"Genjutsu only, sensei? Is that possible?" asked Sasuke, putting a slight emphasis on _sensei_.

"Teme, what if you put someone who is in midair a hundred feet above the ground to sleep? What do you think would happen?" chuckled Naruto.

_He has a point. If I time my genjutsu right, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to incapacitate or even kill them with only genjutsu and my environment. Since its harder than it would be if I could use ninjutsu or taijutsu – and that reminds me, I need to nag him about kenjutsu – I will have to use my Sharingan more often and gain more experience with it. Wait, has Kami been messing with my head again? I don't usually think this much before a battle_. Shrugging off his paranoia, he walked cautiously out of the tent, immediately feeling the chakra fields of his opponents.

"Hey looky here, itsh a kidsh playing ninja. Now gish us ah' yo money and you won't get hurt." The speaker was a tall, lanky woman with red hair and eyes, and a goatee. His partner, a much shorter person, seemed unnaturally flexible, as if he would collapse into a puddle at any moment. He wielded a familiar, gigantic sward and also sported a goatee. Both were swaying in a drunken way; both were also apparently blind, as Sasuke wore his hitai-ate rather proudly around his forehead.

Sasuke sighed. _Incompetent, no kidding. These dobes are worse than Naruto. Well, I'll teach them to doubt an Uchiha!_

Looking the shorter ninja in the eye, he sighed and grunted, "Hn. _**Sharingan**_!" Immediately, the ninja screamed as the Sasuke's Sharingan appeared and began to whirl, putting him deep into a genjutsu and allowing him access to his mind. _**Hm. A pervert? Let's see what happens if I show him Tsunade... ah, look, a reaction. He's liquifying – must be a kekkei-genkai.**_ Leaving his mind, he continued his train of thought: _I didn't expect this to be that easy. Oh look, the other one's running away. Cowardly, though understandable when fighting an Uchiha._

"Now where do you think you're going?" chuckled Sasuke, shunshinning in front of the second ninja. "Still think I'm 'playing ninja'?"

"Notsh anymore! But Ish can deal wish Uchiha..." Suddenly, she collapsed, unconscious, and began to vomit up a healthy amount of what looked like homemade beer. _Or unhealthy, as it were..._ "Dobe-sensei!"

Inside the tent, Jiraiya laughed long and hard while Naruto, who had been listening to the whole thing, scowled. "Serves you right! I call that karma for all those years of 'ero-sennin'! Ha ha ha... Ow! Gerroff! Gerroff!" Naruto had just tackled him to the ground and started to punch him. At that moment, as luck would have it, Sasuke activated the storage seal and entered... to see his senseis brawling on the ground.

"Sheesh. Pretty obvious who's the Uchiha around here." He immediately was treated to glares and killing intent from both Jiraiya and Naruto, both of which he ignored. "Oooh, I'm quaking in my boots. After Tsukuyomi, its going to take a _lot _to scare me. Anyway, it took me a pathetically short amount of time. They appear to be drunk; one of them just passed out, while the other started jibbering after one illusion. What will we do with them?"

"If they're drunk, their tongues will be loose," said Naruto, standing up. "Sasuke, more training for you, since you didn't get very much this time. Put 'em in a genjutsu and use any means necessary."

"Hn," grunted Sasuke. "Will do, dobe-sensei." Leaving the tent amid chuckles and a large amount of killing intent, he walked over to the ninja. "_**Suiton: Suiro no Jutsu**_"

**** Several Hours Later ****

Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan. After many hours – weeks in the genjutsu world of the Sharingan – the ninja had finally cracked. He had to hand it to them, they may have been incompetent, they may have been drunk, but they were _tough_. They couldn't stand up to the Sharingan though, and they had finally revealed some information. Their names were Suigetsu and Karin, and they had been sent by someone only referred to as "Hebi-teme" to capture or kill Naruto. Apparently, they honestly didn't know his name – which didn't stop Naruto, Sasuke, and Jiraiya from guessing.

"Orochimaru-teme..." muttered Naruto. "Thing is, I beat Yondaime-tousan, he saw me beat Yondaime-tousan, so sending anyone weaker is just fodder, the way he sent those Grass genin after Sasuke in the Forest of Death. Why would he go after me though? Sasuke's the one with the Seal and the Sharingan, and its not like he'd have access to my mind..."

"Silly," interrupted Jiraiya. "Gaki, he wants the Kyuubi. If he takes over your body, he takes over your seal. Besides, he could probably trade you to Akatsuki in return for some leeway."

_Akatsuki?_ Thought Sasuke. _Who are they? Should I ask... no. An Uchiha must not show weakness._

"Akatsuki, since you don't know who they are," said Naruto, much Sasuke's chagrin, "are a group of S-rank missing-nins who are after the tailed beasts and their containers, like me and Gaara. Orochimaru used to be a member, according to Jiraiya's sources; apparently they don't take desertions very well."

"Hn. I'm not surprised."

"You shouldn't be. Anyway, as a result, Orochimaru has been dodging attacks from Akatsuki for years, despite his status as leader of a official hidden village. I think he'd jump at a chance to get them off his back, though he'd never admit it. Anyway, what do you think we should do about them?"

"Hm? You mean the missing-nin? Send them back to Konoha for a bounty, maybe Ibiki can find some more information."

Ignoring the sudden increase in the captive ninja's desperate attempts to escape, Naruto responded, "You have a point, though I'd rather just kill them now and save ourselves the trouble. Ero-sennin? Got a toad handy?"

Jiraiya responded, "Not if you call me that I don't – hey! Quit it! Slapping's not nice!"

"Get over it. You need to work on your reflexes anyway."

Sighing, and mumbling something about "insolent gaki," Jiraiay made a few hand signs and muttered, "_**Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Gamaunsou! **(Summoning Jutsu: Gamaunsou)_"

With a explosion of ninja smoke, Gamaunsou appeared, a rather resigned look on his face. "Well? What do you need me to carry now?"

"Those two missing nin," responded Jiraiya, pointing to Karin and Suigetsu, "and I'd like you to carry them to the Hokage. Also tell her," glancing at Naruto before whispering, "'they might take 'it' off each other.'"

"Odd message. Anyway, her? What happened to Sarutobi-sama?" asked Gamaunsou, though the look on Jiraiya's face was enough of an answer. More quietly now, he asked sadly, "Who?"

"Orochimaru-teme. He forced sensei to use _**Shiki Fuin **(Reaper Death Seal)_ to seal away a couple zombies. Anyway, we can explain more later, for now they need to get to Konoha."

Forcing an insincere grin onto his face, Gamaunsou, crying out "Hai!" enveloped the water bubble containing the captives onto his tongue and lapped them up, much to Sasuke's surprise. Gamaunsou leaped off towards Konoha, and for just a moment, his eyes seemed to glisten, as if covered with water.

************

_Later, forest clearing_

"Your Sharingan," said Naruto, "is your greatest strength, but also your greatest weakness."

"Hmph. Weakness? Impossible."

"Impossible, _sensei_. Make a solid clone, doesn't matter what kind."

Casting a quick Mizu Bunshin, the two Sasuke's turned to Naruto, who had created his own Kage Bunshin. "Now, activate your Sharingan."

Naruto-bunshin then started to flipping through hand seals, followed shortly by Sasuke-bunshin. Ending on Snake, Naruto-bunshin smirked and chuckled,

"_**Doton: Seppuku!**_(_Earth Style:Ritual Suicide!)_" Sasuke's eyes widened as Sasuke-bunshin exploded, while Naruto-bunshin easily canceled the technique.

"See what I mean, teme? If you just copy techniques blindly, you put yourself at risk. Besides, you're copying them, not mastering them. If the person who is using the technique uses it wrong, you'll use it wrong too. Finally, some jutsu must be used in conjunction with others; for example, my _**Fuuton: Rasenshuriken **(Wind Style: Swirling Shuriken)_ causes great damage to my arm, so I must use it with a solid bunshin, preferably a solid one like Tsuchi Bunshin that can take some damage.

"What we're doing today is teaching you a few things about creating jutsu, since that's the best way to gain a mastery of how chakra works. The first thing to do will be watching how chakra flows during each hand seal. For example, the Ram seal, after Dragon, encourages fire elemental manipulation of Chakra, while Rat after Dragon focuses chakra in the right arm. By gaining an understanding of how chakra moves, you can guess a jutsu's purpose before it is finished and prepare." Naruto created a Shadow Clone to train Sasuke, while he walked off on his own.

**************

_Weeks Later, different clearing_

Naruto pored over three jars, mixing herbs together. Taking out a few chakra-sensitive papers, he ground them up finely before emptying them into the mixtures, then adding water. His brow furrowed as he formed hand seals, carefully. _Ram, Boar, Dragon, Eagle, Dog..._ he inserted his fingers into the first jar, which then began to glow a brilliant blue.

Pausing, he crossed his legs, putting his hands in a seal, and sat motionless for a full five minutes; when he reopened his eyes, Sasuke noticed that they were that of a toads. He continued, _Ram, Boar, Dragon, Snake, Tiger_, and immersing his fingers in the second jar, it began to glow a soft green. Finally, again assuming a meditative pose, red chakra began to bubble around him, and his whisker marks hardened and grew, while his eyes turn red and slitted. _Ram, Boar, Dragon, Horse, Eagle_; the third and final jar glowed an angry crimson.

"What's the point of all this?" asked Sasuke. Under exposure from Jiraiya and Naruto, he was showing signs of mellowing; a rather long genjutsu training session had made him realize that following the instructions of the man who killed his family was not very smart, and he began to open up, though only those who knew him well could tell.

"Shush. It's Fuinjutsu (Sealing Techniques); it's a very exact science. One mistake and I could, I dunno, turn you into a pink mushroom or something." Sasuke gulped inwardly and resolved to keep quiet from now on. "Maybe I could feed that to Itachi for you or something."

Now spreading out a scroll, he withdrew three brushes. Dipping one into the jar of green ink, he painted glowing characters on the edges of the scroll. Putting it aside, he took another brush, dipped it into the blue, and carefully painted a shadow in blue behind the green; then, he continued about a third of the way across the scroll on either side, leaving a little more than a third remaining; he wrote kanji in only the topmost and bottommost rows for about six inches on either side of this area, before again continuing up and down the scroll. In the two spaces on the one-third marks on either side of the scroll, he drew with the read two pointed ovals, and drew characters around them; picking up the blue brush again, he drew shadows behind them. Finally, he formed a few hand seals; whispering "_**Fuuton: Soyokaze **(Wind Style: Zephyr)_," he blew a gentle stream across the paper, quick-drying the ink. Meditating again, he focused energy into the green characters on the edges, lighting up the entire scroll in a breathtaking light show.

"Now, lets see here... plant my hands here and... _Ram-tiger-boar-snake-horse-eagle_." The characters on the scroll seemed to detach and float in midair, before shrinking to barely six inches wide."Hey teme!" As Sasuke turned to Naruto, he planted the seal on Sasuke's face, with the ovals surrounding his eyes. "_**Fuin: Sharingan Inpeishi **(Seal: Sharingan Suppressor)_!"

"What did you do to me, dobe!"

"Sensei," Naruto corrected automatically. "I restricted the chakra pathways to your eyes. It'll be harder to activate your Sharingan. The idea is similar to that of weights: building up your chakra passageways so that activating it is easier, as well as giving you practice at activating it when you're almost out of chakra and you have to push at it to get it to work."

"And what gives you the right to do that?"

Naruto smiled evilly. "Why, being your sensei of course. And if you keep this up, I'm going to lock you into a permanent Oiroke around Jiraiya!"

Sasuke eeped and ran.

**************

Gamaunsou: Literally something like "Carrier toad," he does most of the literal heavy lifting. He's a porter of sorts

_**Shiranui-ryu**_**: **I translated this from the prequel as "style of the sea fire," where sea fire is better known as a "St. Elmo's fire." If someone comes up with a better translation, original author obviously included, please let me know. Naruto's and his sensei's style.

_**Shadan-ryu**_: "Style of the Interceptor," the Uchiha clan kenjutsu style. Uses the predictive and analytical powers of the Sharingan to its limit, resulting a style with few if any openings, allowing the user to bide his time.

_**Doton: Seppuku** (Earth Style: Ritual Suicide): _Kinjutsu; Suicide technique; a ball of earth expands in your abdomen, blowing you apart. After this close call, Naruto was careful to always test new jutsu with a Bunshin.

Fuinjutsu: "Shadows" are conversion kanji: they convert from one type of chakra to another. In this case, the green (senjutsu) kanji are absorbing natural energy, which is converted into blue (human) chakra and fed into the blue kanji, which is processed and then converted into red (demon) chakra and fed into the red kanji. More fuinjutsu information as needed

Omake:

"And by the order of the council," said Danzo, a triumphant grin on his face, "Uzumaki Naruto –"

"Sensei," interrupted Sasuke and Sakura.

"What?"

"Uzumaki Naruto-sensei"

Somewhere, a pirate with a compass that didn't point north and the map to the fountain of youth sneezed.


End file.
